This invention relates to an end-face polishing and cleaning apparatus for polishing and cleaning end faces of rod-shaped members such as optical communication fibers.
An optical communication fiber is used after it has been fixed by adhesion to a center hole of a ferrule which is a main member of a connector and then smoothly polished at is end face, together with an end face of the ferrule, to a mirror surface. If the polished surfaces of the ferrule and the fiber thus polished are not vertical to a center axis of the ferrule or the polished surfaces have flaws, the optical connector having ferrules oppositely connected with each other is deteriorated in accuracy at the opposite position, resulting in increase in loss. Consequently, the polished surface of a ferrule including an optical fiber requires finishing of the polished surface with high accuracy.
As a conventional optical fiber end-face polishing apparatus, for example, there is one disclosed in Japanese Patent Unexamined Publication No. H3-26456. The optical fiber end-face polishing apparatus disclosed in this publication has an eccentric plate which rotates on a concentric circle of a rotation disc and has also a planetary gear which transmits rotation of a motor for revolution to this eccentric plate, and these are combined with a polishing plate to cause the polishing plate to rotate and revolve.
Further, the ferrule is polished at the end-face under a state that it is fixed by the jig plate, and polishing powder or polishing solution (hereinafter merely referred to as polishing powder) is adhered to back and side surfaces of the jig plate, ferrule's end-face and the like. In this case, conventionally the ferrule's end-face and the jig plate have been cleaned by turning over the jig plate while fixedly holding the ferrule by the jig plate and being rubbed by an operator with a cleaning brush while supplying the water ejected from a water tap to a predetermined point or by using a cleaning machine.
However, the polishing and cleaning of the ferrule are performed by operator's manual operation using the above polishing machine or cleaning machine, which are respectively independent. Therefore, there are problems of a decline in mass production and an increase in cost. Further, there is another problem that a little variation occurs at every operation when an operator sets, for example, an urging force applied to the ferrule when polishing and so the quality is not stabilized.
It is an object of the present invention to provide, in view of such circumstances, an end-face polishing and cleaning apparatus for automatically polishing and cleaning the end-face of ferrule.